No Knee'd For Your Concern
by Purpwithapen
Summary: Things got a little rough during training. Can Sam keep his injury from the team or will it put them all at risk? One shot.
1. Chapter 1

################

AN: this takes place in season one, but closer to the end of the season. In my fics, it takes place after Secrets That We Keep. This is a one shot and will only be two chapters, three at the most. Thank you to those that requested this fic. This is my first one shot so we'll see how I do! Enjoy! I do not own Flashpoint or any of it's characters.

#################

Greg watched silently as the team practiced hand to hand. It had been a slow day call wise so they were using the down time to train.

Sam and Wordy were circling each other, both with serious looks on their face.

Wordy stabbed at Sam with the flexible plastic knife they used during training. He lunged forward, aiming for Sam's stomach.

Sam saw the move coming in Wordy's eyes and sidestepped as Wordy lunged forward. He grabbed the arm with the knife and pulled on it, making Wordy twist as he fell. Sam put a hard grip on Wordy's wrist so that he released the knife as he went down. Sam twisted Wordy's arm behind his back and turned his body at the same time so that Wordy rolled to his stomach in one move.

"Good." Greg said and motioned Sam to let Wordy up. As Wordy came up, Greg nodded to him and Wordy tensed his muscles.

When Sam had him almost all the way up, Wordy threw a soft punch at Sam's face, connecting, but not with much force. It was really only a glancing blow. Wordy lunged forward and put his hands around Sam's neck.

Sam was caught a little off guard by the blow but recovered quickly when Wordy lunged and put his hands around his neck. Sam brought both arms up with enough force to break Wordy's hold on his neck at the same time that he brought his knee up to Wordy's side. Again, he did it with less force so he didn't hurt Wordy. Wordy stumbled back and they stood eying each other.

Greg caught Ed's eye and signaled him to attack. Ed nodded and came at Sam from his left. He grabbed the knife from the floor and lunged up at Sam, hitting him in the stomach with the flexible plastic. He heard Sam grunt and saw him lift his leg up in a protective move which knocked the knife away, but if it was real he would've been stabbed.

Sam grabbed his stomach with one hand, knowing he now had to fight one handed. The knee pushed Ed back a little and Sam used the backward motion to bring his foot up enough to plant it on Ed's chest and push him back. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Wordy coming at him again. He put brought his foot down and turned to Wordy. He turned slightly farther when Wordy put his hands out but Wordy was ready for him to deflect and landed a blow to Sam's stomach with one hand and grabbed his shirt with the other.

Sam bent over as the blow landed close to the spot the knife hit. He smiled slightly as he bent down further and kicked his legs out, sweeping Wordy's feet out from under him. Unfortunately, when Wordy went down his feet kicked out uncontrollably and he kicked Sam in the side of his left knee. Sam winced, but he covered it when he saw Ed coming towards him, determination in his eyes. Sam stood and saw that Ed had the knife again.

"C'mon Sam." Spike cheered next to Greg.

"Jules, get in there." Greg whispered to the brunette standing next to him.

"Three on one?" Jules raised a brow.

"It's not always fair." Greg shrugged. He wanted to see what the rookie would do when outnumbered and in the fight for his life.

Spike and Lew exchanged a look.

"Ok." Jules approached Sam who had his back to her. He was facing Wordy and Ed in front of him.

Wordy glanced at Ed when he saw Jules jump in the fray. Ed nodded at him and they advanced on Sam.

Sam heard the light footsteps behind him and rolled his eyes. He glanced behind him and saw Jules trying to sneak up on him. He turned so that he was facing all three of them. Greg, Spike and Lew were behind him. He pushed the imaginary button on his chest and said, "10-33." He kept his eyes on them, switching between them every few seconds. His knee was starting to throb so he was going to have to do this with one leg and one arm.

Ed lunged at Sam first from the middle. Sam moved towards him which made Ed look at him in confusion. It didn't last long and Ed swung the knife at Sam's good arm. Sam grabbed Ed's arm, holding the knife, and narrowly missed being cut. He brought his knee up and pushed Ed's arm down at the same time causing Ed's arm to hit his knee hard enough to drop the knife.

Wordy moved forward and Sam threw his elbow up when Wordy got close enough and connected with his face causing him to grab his nose and back off. Sam pulled Ed forward and got him down on the ground. Jules moved in, grabbed the knife and swiped at Sam's side, connecting. Sam growled and kicked his legs out so he his butt landed on Ed's back and his foot connected with her lower leg causing her to fall backwards.

"Agh." Ed groaned.

Sam smiled and pulled Ed's hands behind his back.

"Good job Sam." Greg smiled. He put a hand out and helped Sam get off of Ed's back.

Sam turned and saw Ed roll to his back. "You ok?" He put a hand out which Ed gladly took and Sam helped him stand.

"Yeah." Ed put a hand to his back and bent over to stretch it out. He stood back up and saw two cuts in Sam's shirt. "You?"

"Oh yeah." Sam smiled. He loved hand to hand. It was a good way to work off frustration or anything else. Sam looked to Wordy who had a towel to his nose, trying to stave off the blood. "Oh shit. Wordy you ok?"

Wordy smiled. "I'm good. You'll have to deal with Shel, not me." He winked.

Sam moved forward and put a hand out to Jules who was sitting on the mat. "You ok?"

"Yep." Jules smiled. She put a hand out and when Sam grabbed it to help her up she pulled him forwards, put her feet up and into his stomach as he fell forward and flipped him over behind her.

"Ooh." Spike, Lew and Greg winced and spoke in unison.

"Oof!" Sam said in surprise as he flipped and landed on his back behind Jules. Luckily he had the piece of mind to keep his left leg up as he landed and didn't let it touch the mat until after he landed. It was already sore and the extra impact wouldn't have helped. He looked at the ceiling as he tried to catch his breath and figure out what else he had just bruised. Jules' face appeared above him a minute later.

Jules smiled in satisfaction, but felt a little bad that she'd knocked the wind out of him. She felt better a few moments later when his breathing became more regular. She ignored the familiar tingling when she put her hand out, he put his hand in hers and she helped him up. She clapped him on the shoulder.

"Damn." Sam looked at her, a twinkle in his eye. He had gritted his teeth from wincing when she slapped his shoulder.

"Knock me over." Jules said teasingly.

"It was three on one!" Sam laughed.

"Nice job Samtastic!" Spike clapped a hand on Sam's other shoulder.

Lew smiled and added his congrats to the chorus of Team One.

"Team One! Hot call!" Winnie called over the klaxon alarm.

The team started running towards the lock up. Sam started to follow, but his knee started screaming at him. Damn it, he thought. Wordy hit me harder than I thought. He did a small skip to keep a little weight off of it, but Greg saw it and looked at him with concern.

"You ok Sam?" Greg asked.

Sam put a mask up and pushed the pain down. "Yes Boss." He jogged the last few feet to the lock up and started grabbing his gear.

Greg broke off and went to the desk to ask Winnie for details.

Jules saw little lines of pain around Sam's eyes and looked at him before looking back at the gear she was getting ready. "You ok?"

"Yes. I'm fine." Sam said irritably. He looked at her surprised expression and said, "sorry. Everyone keeps asking. I was just beaten up by three members of an elite SRU team. I'm sore, but I'm good."

Jules smiled in understanding. He was right. "Wait until tomorrow. You don't even know sore yet."

"Yeah, I know." Sam rolled his eyes, picked up his rifle bag and walked out with Jules following.

Sam had been glad for the distraction of the call so he didn't have to think about his knee. It was starting to swell a little and he couldn't wait to go home and ice it. That was until they got to the four story building with the barricaded subject inside. That part was ok, but Ed made him Sierra One and he had to climb all five floors of the building next to it because the elevator had broken down that morning. By the time he reached the second floor his knee was really hurting. He hissed as he started up the next flight of stairs.

Greg heard the hiss and looked at Spike in the truck next to him. That sounded like Sam. "Sam? Status."

Sam sighed and kicked himself for letting the hiss escape. He looked up the stair well. "Five more minutes, the elevator is broken, on my way up."

Greg got a sense that something was wrong. "You ok?"

"No harm." Sam said evenly. He turned off his comm and looked up at the three remaining flights. He knew it was going to hurt like hell, but he had to get up there. One more flight, he thought. Maybe I'll find a good spot there. He was breathing hard when he got to the next floor, but he kept moving. He knew once he stopped his knee would really start hurting.

He looked around the whole empty office floor and found the window for the subject's location. He couldn't see anything. He'd have to go up another flight to get a better angle. Damn. He hit his fist on the stairs bannister. He turned his comm back on and heard Ed saying he was going up the stairs to find him. "Ed?" Sam said as he started up the next flight, one stair at a time, stepping up with his good leg.

"Sam? Was your comm off? We've been calling you." Ed looked up at the stairs and could see Sam sliding his hand up the bannister slowly. "You ok?"

"Sorry, must've hit it accidentally. I'm good." Sam quickened his pace. "No vantage right here. Going up one more to see if I can get a better angle."

"Ok." Ed watched the hand slide faster. It didn't sound like Sam was telling the whole story. He didn't like it.

"Eddie, our subject is not responding. We may have to go tactical." Greg said through the headset.

Ed looked up one last time, turned and walked out of the building. "On my way to you Greg." When he reached the command truck, he pulled the door open angrily. "Boss, see you out here?" He said, standing at the door.

Greg looked back and saw Ed's angry face. He nodded and walked out of the truck, closing the door behind him. He turned off his receiver and Ed did the same. "What's up?"

"Sam's not telling us the truth. I watched him go up the stairs, he was moving slow. I think something happened during the training he's not telling us."

"Ok. So do we pull him? I need Jules as my second and Spike in the truck. That leaves you for tactical. We may need as many hands as we can on entry." Greg shook his head. "We need him on Sierra, but we address it after debrief."

Ed shook his head. He didn't like it, but he knew that if Sam was hurt, Sierra may be the best place for him on this call. He looked at Greg and nodded.

Sam reached the next floor and was relieved to have a better angle. He set up his remi and looked through the scope. Laying on his knee was not the greatest so he had to adjust it so he wasn't applying direct pressure to it. He called out the status in the room and the call was resolved thirty minutes later when he took the Sierra shot. Walking down the stairs wasn't as bad, but he was glad when the maintenance guy met him on the stairs and told him the elevator was fixed.

He took the elevator down and met SIU in the lobby. They took his guns and bagged them, then walked him to the cruiser. He saw Greg standing by the command truck and gave him a slight nod which Greg returned. He could see the concern etched on the Boss' face and wondered if that was because of the Sierra shot or because he had turned his comm off.

When he returned to the barn two hours later, he didn't have to wonder. He walked into the briefing room to find the team still there debriefing.

"How'd SIU go?" Ed asked, tipping his chin up.

"Good." Sam nodded and sat next to Jules on the near side of the table.

They went over the call and when they got to the point where Greg and Ed had called for Sam's status three times before he answered, Ed became angry. "What the hell were you thinking Sam? You never ever turn your comm off unless it's an emergency." Ed raged even though he and Greg had done it to discuss Sam.

"I'm sorry. I hit it on the way up the stairs." Sam put both hands up, palm up. "I'll be more careful next time."

"So I didn't see you taking your time up the stairs?"

Sam frowned at him. "Are you saying I was dilly dallying?"

"Were you?" Ed asked pointedly.

"No. It was five flights and I was going as fast I could. It was stifling hot in that stairwell. I was not taking my time. That would've put the hostage at risk and I wouldn't do that."

Ed leaned back. He sighed through his nose and attempted to calm himself. He knew by now that Sam would not do anything to put others at risk. He only risked himself for the good of others.

"Ok. Anything else?" Greg asked and looked at the team. When no one said anything he dismissed them. He watched Sam leave and didn't see anything in his gait that suggested he was in pain.

Sam headed to the locker room, walking normally, but his knee was killing him. He showered quickly and as he changed he saw the bruises starting to form on his stomach and side. He turned in the mirror and saw he had a large bruise forming across his shoulders where he landed there first when Jules flipped him. He blew out a breath and pulled his shirt on before anyone else saw. Spike came in from the showers and slapped him on the back. He couldn't help but pull away.

Spike frowned. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Just a little sore from hand to hand." Sam smiled and ducked his head.

Spike smiled back. "Yeah. That was pretty awesome."

Wordy got in his locker and listened to the conversation.

Sam pulled his pants up before Spike and Wordy could see his bruised and swollen knee. He buttoned his pants and stuck his arm under his shirt to put on deodorant.

Spike's eyes widened when he saw the dark bruises on Sam's stomach. "Damn." Spike stepped forward and pulled Sam's shirt up.

Sam looked down and chuckled. "It's not as bad as it looks."

Lew whistled when he walked in and saw Sam's stomach and side. "Wow."

Wordy looked and said, "damn." He watched Sam's face and saw the pain there.

"Let me see your back." Spike looked at Sam with concern.

Greg and Ed walked in and both stopped when they saw Sam's torso.

"Jesus Sam." Ed strode forward.

"It's fine Spike. I'm fine." Sam said and pulled down his shirt and looked at Ed.

"Oh yeah, then let me see your back? You landed hard when Jules flipped you." Spike gave him a determined look.

Sam stared back at him with the same determination.

"Sam." Greg said firmly.

Sam looked at him, his blue eyes flashing, lips in a thin line. He turned around and pulled his shirt over his head. He heard the gasps and looked over his shoulder at them.

There was a knock on the door and a female voice said, "decent?" Jules walked in as Ed said yes and saw Sam's back. "Oh my God Sam!" She ran forward and put a hand gently on his bruised shoulders. She pulled her hand back when he looked at her, desire in his eyes. "Is that from when I flipped you?"

Sam shrugged and carefully pulled the shirt over his head and down over his bruises. "It was three on one." He smirked.

Jules shook her head and looked at Greg with irritation. Her look said, this is your fault.

"It's ok guys. It's part of the job." Sam put his hands up, palms out.

"Well that earns your first round on me." Wordy said guiltily.

"Thanks but I'm going to take a rain check. Gonna go home and put some ice on my bruises." Sam smiled as he grabbed his bag and started to leave.

"You sure you're ok?" Jules asked as she walked out with him followed by the rest of the group.

Sam looked at her and gave her a lopsided smile. She does care, he thought. I wish I knew how much. "Yes."

"So that was it." Ed hung back and said in a low tone to Greg.

"Pretty normal after training like that." He saw the concern in Ed's eyes and nodded. "We'll keep a close eye on him. If we need to pull him we will."

"Without hesitation." Ed nodded.

When Sam got home, he laid on his couch with a beer and an ice pack on his knee. He wrapped it before he went to bed and slept fitfully. He took 600mg of Ibuprofen around 0100, which helped and he was able to sleep a little better until he got up at 0400. When he got up he knew there was no way he could jog or bike into work. Wordy had taken him home in his van since Sam said he was going to pass on The Goose. Wordy felt bad that their hand to hand had gotten so rough and told Sam he was sorry again on the way to Sam's house.

He called a cab and waited for it to arrive in the lobby of his building.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam walked into SRU HQ silently hoping for another slow day. He joined the team as Greg handed out their coffees. He took his iced cap and sipped it happily.

"How you feeling?" Wordy asked as they headed to the locker room.

Sam smiled at him. He was glad that he was finally part of the group and they were moving towards being a family for him. It felt good to have people that cared about him. "Colorful, but ok." He bit the inside of his cheek when his knee started throbbing as they walked. Man, he thought, this is going to be a long day.

"Good." Greg smiled at him from the other side. "Pretty sore I'll bet." Greg stopped outside the locker room door and waited for the other guys to go inside. Ed stayed with them. "Look. I know you're sore from yesterday, you're moving kinda slow, so if you need the day off we can cover for you."

Sam looked at them. He wanted to say yes, to go home and relax on the couch with some more pain pills, but he hated to miss a day of work. "Nah. I'm good." He'd walked out of the desert on a broken leg before, he could handle a couple days with the SRU on a sprained knee before days off. At least that's what he thought. Whatever had been at work to make yesterday slow made up for it in spades today.

The alarm went off while the team was in the middle of their workout. Team Five was finishing up at their final call for the day so Team One geared up.

"Jumper on the Gardiner Expressway, threatening to jump into Keating Channel. It's a little complicated Boss." Kira looked at Greg.

"Why?" Greg asked, a hand on the desk.

"The unis are trying to close down traffic, but that's right where the Don and Lakeshore joins Gardiner, there's a ton of commuter traffic right now." Kira said with concern.

Greg nodded, he knew that stretch of road, it was always jammed during rush hour. It was going to be tough for them to even get there, much less keep the civilians back. "Ok. Tell the unis to start diverting traffic down Lakeshore boulevard and the exit before everything merges. Make sure they close off the on ramp too. We'll get on at that on ramp and get in that way. Make sure they get it cleared out." Greg said as he followed Sam and Lew to the SUVs.

"Copy Boss." Kira said and started radioing the unis the Boss' instructions.

In the SUV, Greg looked at Ed in the passenger seat. "What's our ETA?"

"10 minutes." Ed looked at the GPS.

"Ok." Greg nodded. "Kira, we have any ID on our subject?"

"No, sorry Boss. Unis say they're getting it cleared for you, but it's going to take some time."

"Ok. Tell them not to approach the subject. SRU only." Greg looked out the window nervously. He hoped they got there in time.

"Copy." Kira answered.

The team arrived and started working the scene to see what information they could find on the subject. Greg took the lead with Jules as his second. Sam and Lew searched the guy's car and found a blunt in the center console.

"Boss, our guy has a blunt in the car. Looks like it's medicinal. I'm calling the doctor's office." Sam got out of the car when he started talking and then turned when the doctor's office picked up.

"The car is registered to a Franklin Frost. Boss, isn't Frost the name of the CEO of Generaldym?" Lew looked at the registration in his hand and looked up at Greg standing by the man on the edge of the expressway.

"Who?" Greg stepped back from the subject, keeping an eye on him.

"Generaldym, big time engineering firm." Spike answered from the command truck.

"Didn't they just get a huge contract to redesign this section of the expressway?" Wordy asked from next to Greg and Ed.

Greg nodded. "Apparently that's not a good thing. Ok, Spike keep digging. Let's find out what the deal is with that contract."

"Boss, just got off the phone with the doctor's office. They couldn't share much info on our Mr. Frost, but he did say he prescribed the marijuana for pain relief. I talked to the wife, she's on her way down. She says Franklin was just diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer." Sam said looking towards the people standing by the subject.

"When?" Greg asked.

"Yesterday." Sam answered.

"Ok, Sam you talk to the wife when she gets here."

"Copy." Sam nodded.

Greg started talking to Mr. Frost, trying to figure out a way to keep him from jumping. He wasn't worried too much about the twenty foot fall from the bridge, it was the shallow channel that worried him. There were pylons, some broken and sharp rocks in the channel. A fall onto those things could definitely be fatal.

Sam waited and saw a woman hurrying towards him, she was obviously very upset. Sam put a hand up, but the large woman steamed ahead ignoring him. When he sidestepped to stand in front of her his knee sent sharp pains shooting up his leg. He gritted his teeth but he put a hand on each of her arms. The woman twisted to get out of his grasp, got one heel caught on the other and fell to the ground taking Sam with her. As they fell, Sam turned them so his body hit the ground and she landed on top of him. He grunted in pain as her legs hit his knees and groin.

"Ah!" The woman yelled. She felt him turn them so he would take the brunt of the fall. She looked into his pained blue eyes and her face turned red. "Oh my stars!" She pulled back from him just as another set of gloved hands were pulling her up. "Are you ok?"

Sam looked up at her and nodded. He could see Lew had her under control.

Wordy ran over and knelt next to Sam. He didn't see what happened, but he heard Sam grunt and the woman yell. He had nearly laughed at the sight of the large woman laying on top of Sam. "Sam? You hurt?"

Sam looked at Wordy and gave him a half smile. "Just my pride." Sam sat up. His knee was really throbbing and his head was starting to as well.

Wordy smiled and stood when he saw Sam's lopsided grin. He put a hand out and pulled Sam to standing. He noticed Sam stood without putting weight on his left leg. He looked down at Sam's knee. Is that a wrap under there? He was about to ask when Sam patted him on the shoulder and moved to talk to the woman. He could see Sam was limping a little as he walked. Did the woman kick him in the knees?

He didn't have time as things started going south when Mr. Frost saw that his wife was there. He ran back to Greg's side and held onto him when Greg got too close and Mr. Frost decided he was ready to go. He had to let go as they both went over the side, but he was relieved that Greg had been anchored and caught Mr. Frost before he fell too far. He, Ed and Jules pulled them up and got them to safety.

Sam had all he could to do to hold onto the wife when she saw her husband go over the side. He finally had to get gruff with her and told her to stop in his commanding voice. It wasn't long after that Greg and Mr. Frost were pulled back to the expressway. Sam sighed in relief and started walking Mrs. Frost over so she could see him before they took him to the hospital.

They all gathered by the SUVs while the Frosts were loaded and climbed into the ambulance.

Wordy looked at Sam and tipped his head towards the back of the SUV. After they both were out of earshot they turned off their comms. "Are you sure you're ok? You look like you're limping."

Sam looked away and thought, half truth is better than a lie. "She kicked me in the legs and.." Sam looked down for emphasis.

Wordy frowned and winced at the same time. "Ooh bugger." He studied Sam's face, trying to see if that was it. "No wonder you're walking funny." His face flattened into amusement.

"Yeah." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Wordy? Sam?" Greg called.

Wordy leaned back and looked down the side of the SUV at Greg. "Yeah Boss?"

Greg walked towards him, but Wordy looked at the person in front of him and nodded towards Greg. Wordy and Sam walked from the back of the SUV and met him. "Everything ok?"

Wordy smiled. "Yeah. Just making sure Sam was still in one piece after his tumble with Mrs. Frost."

Greg looked at Sam. "Are you?"

Sam smiled and nodded. "All pieces accounted for."

They got their next hot call while they were on their way back to HQ to debrief. This was a gun call in downtown and the team hurried to the location. Once again, Sam was made Sierra and there was three flights of stairs up to his spot on the catwalk of the warehouse. It took him longer than he liked, but he made it up there. Luckily, that call was resolved peacefully and three hours later they were headed back to HQ to debrief on both calls.

This time they made it into HQ before the klaxon alarm went off again. "Hot call Team One. Bank robbery at People's Bank on Junction Street. Three armed assailants." Kira announced.

Spike looked at Sam as they headed back to the SUVs. "No rest for the wicked."

Sam looked at him in disbelief. "I guess."

They arrived at the bank and Greg started negotiations. Ed made a tac plan which included Sam, Lew and Wordy entering the bank through the back. Spike had the cameras up by the time the three were through the back door. He guided them through the bank and to the front where the assailants were standing around.

When negotiations started failing and one of the gunman took a hostage by the windows and threatened to kill her in front of everyone, Ed, Spike and Jules made explosive entry through the closest window. Sam Wordy and Lew threw flash bangs towards the gunman who were luckily standing near the front window with the first gunman and away from the other hostages.

There was lots of screaming when everything started happening, but Ed was able to get the gunman with the hostage down on the ground. One started running towards the side of the room and the other gave himself up.

When Sam saw the guy run he was closest to him. He gave a small groan and ran after the guy as best as he could with his knee. He wasn't very fast, but he was able to catch the guy when he ran into an office. "SRU! Put the gun down!" Sam yelled as he looked down the barrel of his gun. He shifted slightly so that most of his weight was on his good leg. Running after this guy was a really stupid thing to do, he thought. I may have to tell the Boss and Ed about my knee.

Ed ran after Sam as soon as he had his guy handed to an officer. He had said, "Wordy" and his friend had followed him.

The guy looked at Sam and then around the windowed room. He was trapped, unless he tried to go out the window. I'll get cut to ribbons, he thought, but it's better than jail. He took one last look at Sam and ran towards the glass. Unfortunately, it was safety glass which meant it would shatter and not break. It was also bullet proof. The subject bounced off of the glass and fell back on the floor, the gun skidding across the floor to Sam.

Sam held back a laugh and advanced on the man. "Hands! Let me see those hands!"

Just then Ed and Wordy appeared behind him and moved in to cover the man while Sam cuffed him.

Sam hauled the man up and started to walk him out, but his leg gave out with the first step. He fell to the floor in a heap clutching his left knee. "Aah!"

As he fell he pushed the man forward and Ed caught him.

"Sam? Sam what's wrong?" Wordy knelt down beside the writhing Sam.

"Left knee." Sam groaned. He put his head back, the pain excruciating.

Ed frowned and called out, "medic! We need a medic in the back offices. Sam is down."

Greg's head snapped up and he took off at a run through the blasted window of the bank. "What happened?" He yelled as he and the rest of the team ran for the back of the bank.

Ed watched them approach and put up a hand to let them know it was ok. "Don't know, but he says it's his knee and he's in a lot of pain." Ed looked at them then knelt down next to Sam on his other side. "What happened Sam?"

Sam could feel the blackness coming as the pain took over and could only answer with one word, "sorry." His eyes rolled in his head and he was out.


	3. Chapter 3

Wordy frowned, grabbed Sam's vest and shook him. "Sam?" He looked up at the concerned faces of the team. "Where's the medic?!"

Three seconds later the medic appeared and they started to remove Sam's gear. Ed secured Sam's weapons and Wordy took care of his vest and the rest of his gear. When the medic cut the leg of Sam's pants and revealed his left knee they all groaned. He had wrapped his knee, but it was so swollen that it was bursting out of the wrap in several places. It was even worse when they removed the wrap and everyone could see how black and blue his knee was.

"What the hell?" Wordy looked at Greg and Ed as they stood back and let the medics work.

Ed's blue eyes were dark with anger. "How could he not tell us?" It was obvious that this had been brewing before he and Mrs. Frost's tumble, he already had it wrapped.

"He kept saying he was fine, damn him." Wordy said in disgust. He saw that the medics had Sam on the gurney and followed them out. The rest of the team followed.

"We'll debrief later." Greg said to them as they walked out. He made sure the unis were cleaning up the scene and got in the SUV next to Ed. He turned his receiver off and nodded to Ed. "He already had it wrapped."

"It must've happened during the training, but why wouldn't he say anything? We asked him. Yesterday, today, we even told him he could take the day off if he needed it." Ed shook his head in anger.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out." Greg said angrily.

They arrived at the hospital to find Wordy pacing in the waiting room.

"Did he wake up at all?" Jules asked concern in her eyes.

Wordy shook his head, hands on his hips. "They gave him pain meds, but he wouldn't wake up."

An hour later, the doctor came out and addressed the group. He had dealt with them all before for their various injuries so he knew it was ok to share information about his patient with them. "Sam is resting comfortably right now. We have him on pain meds to manage his pain, which was pretty excruciating, even with what the medics gave him on the way in.

We did an x-ray and MRI. There wasn't anything broken, but unfortunately it looks like he's torn a ligament. The good news is that doesn't require surgery right away. Most patients are able to heal without it. He'll need to stay off of it completely for the next few days, ice it, wear a compression sleeve and keep it elevated. He can go back to work on Monday, but he'll need to wear a brace and no running, light duty only. We'll get him discharged soon. One of you can come sit with him while we get his papers in order."

"Thanks doc." Greg smiled at him and shook his hand.

"That's good right?" Spike asked.

"As long as he takes it easy, yeah." Lew put a hand on Spike's shoulder.

"Oh that'll be easy." Jules said sarcastically.

"Look, he needs to be somewhere that he doesn't have to worry about stairs. I have a spare room downstairs so I'll take him to my house for the next four days. The girls will love having Uncle Sam around." Wordy offered. He had already called Shel and they had agreed. Plus, he knew that this had happened during training and he was pretty sure it was when legs had connected with Sam's as he fell. It was his fault.

Jules put a hand on Wordy's back and nodded. She could see he was feeling guilty.

Wordy looked at each of them and saw them nod in agreeance. He nodded and walked into the ER. He walked into Sam's room and sat down angrily. "Why Sam? Why did you hide it?"

Sam opened his eyes groggily when Wordy entered and watched him sit hard in the chair. "I'm sorry. I thought I could handle it." Sam looked away, unable to see Wordy's angry face.

"When?" Wordy asked.

"Training."

"When you swept my legs. I knew I hit you but I didn't think it was that hard." Wordy frowned. When Sam shrugged he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize, but that doesn't excuse you keeping us in the dark and lying to us."

"I didn't lie, exactly." Sam looked at Wordy and saw his skeptical look. "I told you I was sore. That was true. I just left out the part about my knee being really sore."

"Yeah well you could've really hurt yourself and then where would you be?" Wordy said irritably, although he was starting to understand Sam's need to be superman all the time. He was a protector of others, never of himself.

"Still here in the ER getting yelled at." Sam smirked.

"Yeah," Wordy scoffed, "this is nothing. Wait until Ed and the Boss get a hold of you."

Wordy was right. When he wheeled Sam into the ER waiting area, he was met with relieved, but angry teammates.

"Don't you ever lie to me again Samuel Braddock." Ed seethed.

"I'm sorry, but I never denied being sore, I just said I thought I'd be fine." Sam said. The pain meds were starting to wear off and he was thinking more clearly.

"You put this team at risk Sam and that is not ok. We have to be able to count on each other and your behavior put that at risk." Greg added. "How do we know we can trust you? How do we know when you aren't lying?"

Sam frowned. Whoa, he didn't think this would be this serious. "Wait a minute. I put the team before myself here. I was there for all of you today. I was Sierra, I took on Mrs. Frost, I chased that guy to the back of the bank. And now you don't know if you can trust me?"

Ed nodded while Sam was talking. He had to diffuse the situation. This was starting to get out of hand. "He's right. He was here for us." He looked at Wordy, Lew, Jules, Spike and Greg, each nodded in agreement. "We just need to know that you're going to tell us when you're injured Sam. You can't keep that from us. Especially me. I'm the team lead, I need to know so I can put people where they need to be. For you, that's going to be the truck for the next couple weeks until you have another MRI."

Sam nodded. "I know." He conceded. "I'm sorry."

There was a strained silence as they all processed their thoughts on the situation.

"We accept." Jules smiled, breaking the silence. "Macho man."

"Macho macho man! I want to be, a macho man!" Spike sung and everyone laughed.

Wordy wheeled Sam to the SUV and helped Sam inside while Lew pulled from the other side so Sam's legs were on the seat and he was sitting sideways.

The next four days for Sam were relaxing, but frustrating. Even though he was insistent they don't, Wordy and Shelly waited on him hand and foot. They moved him back and forth between the couch and spare bedroom with ease. They even brought in a shower chair so he could take a much needed shower without having to stand.

The girls were really cute and even got in on waiting on him. When Lilly got home from kindergarten at noon, she went right to Sam in the living room and asked if he needed anything. She even convinced Sam to play tea party with her a couple times. Then Allie and Holly would get home and they would run into the living room to see how Uncle Sam was and to tell him about their day. One night Shelly and Wordy found Sam and the girls asleep, cuddled together with Lily on his chest, Holly on one side and Allie on the other. It was so cute that Shelly got her camera and took a picture.

On day four, Sam woke up and realized that his knee wasn't hurting as much this morning. That had to be a good sign, he thought. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted his feet firmly on the floor. He pushed himself up with a grunt and stood on his own for the first time in four days. He picked up his left leg and planted it in front of him. He tested it slowly, putting a little weight on it at a time until he had his full weight on it.

He moved his right leg forward and felt a little twinge in his left knee but nothing too bad. He looked up and saw Wordy watching him from the door. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning against the door jamb. He took three more steps towards Wordy and smiled. It felt pretty good. He slept with the compression sleeve on and it seemed to be helping. He kept his right foot planted and swung his left while he pivoted. He put his left foot forward and stepped, pain shot through his leg in both directions. "Damn." Sam breathed and put his weight back on his right leg.

Wordy stepped forward and put an arm around Sam before he could fall. "That's a start." He smiled as he helped Sam to the bathroom. When they came back out, Wordy looked at Sam and then back at the floor as they walked slowly to the bed. "Listen, you're still not very mobile so Shel and I discussed it and we think you should stay with us for a while longer. You're going to need rides into work. It'll be easier and it'll make us feel better knowing you aren't going to try to go up and down the stairs at your apartment."

At first, Sam was shaking his head. He loved being with Wordy, Shel and the girls, but he wanted to be in his own place. He considered Wordy's explanation as to why he should stay. He would need rides and he would need help for a while longer. He hated to admit it, but it was probably a good idea. He knew he could argue Wordy out of it, but Shelly was another story. "Ok, but only for a few more days. Just until I'm able to walk more normally."

"Ok." Wordy agreed.

"Good!" Shelly smiled from the doorway, holding a cup of coffee and an iced cap for Sam.

"Yay!" Three little girls cheered from behind their mom.

Sam laughed. "Come here silly girls." He looked around Shelly's legs at the three, messy haired, beautiful little girls. They ran screaming to him and tackled him onto the bed.

"Careful of Uncle Sam's leg." Wordy laughed as the three girls wrapped themselves around Sam and fell to the bed in a heap.

Sam laughed and looked at Allie on his left, mischief in his eyes. "Better watch out.."

All three girls stiffened, looked at Sam and then each other.

"You have awakened, the SAM MONSTER!" Sam contorted his face and snarled. His hands turned to claws and he wriggled back and forth as the girls screamed and backed away from him. He sat up and turned crazy eyes on each of them. "Which one of you awakened the Sam Monster?"

"I did!" Lilly laughed and got on her knees, ready to scramble from the bed. She knew what was coming. The Sam Monster was the most infamous tickle monster there was.

"No I did!" Holly laughed and got on her knees.

Sam looked at Allie and laughed when she shook her head and said, "I didn't." He lunged for Allie and tickled her belly while she erupted in giggles. He saw her shirt go up and her bare belly. He went in for the ultimate tickle, he blew raspberries all over her stomach.

"Aaaah! Uncle Sam!" Allie giggled and laughed until Sam looked at her.

"You said the magic words and defeated the Sam Monster." Sam looked at her with amazement. He turned to Holly and raised a brow, "or has she?" He turned to them and started tickling them until they were squealing with laughter. After they finally collapsed in a tickled out pile, Ssam's hair was sticking up in all directions.

Shelly took a picture just as Sam looked up at them with a dazed and contented look on his face. They both laughed. "Ok girls." Shelly called. "The tickle session has ended. How about some pancakes for breakfast?"

All three girls jumped up and yelled happily as they left the room.

"You need any help?" Wordy asked when Sam sat up.

Sam looked at Wordy with admiration. "You're so lucky. Those girls and Shelly," he gave Wordy a smile.

"I know, believe me." Wordy looked to the left and watched his wife and children walk to the kitchen. He looked back at Sam. "You'll have this some day, if that's what you want."

"It is." Sam nodded. He just had to convince the girl of his dreams to date him first.

"Just gotta find Mrs. Right first." Wordy smiled.

"Yeah." Sam raised his brows. He stood and slowly made his way to the bathroom to shower. He grabbed his shaving kit on the way.

"You good?" Wordy asked.

Sam nodded. He was. He was glad that Wordy had offered to let him stay longer. He knew it would be good for him to spend more time with this family he was growing to love.

Four days later, Sam was back in his apartment. He was waking even better now and the MRI showed that the tear was healing well. He had to wear the brace for another week, but he should be back to full strength by then. Ed had even let him be Sierra One yesterday, but that was only after they knew he could take the elevator up and down to his perch.

The team had been very conscious of Sam's movements and made sure he was ok. It had actually started to annoy Sam, but he took it in stride. He knew that meant they cared and that was a very good thing. The best part was several days later when he walked into the SRU and found everyone gathered around Wordy who was showing them pictures. "New pictures of the girls?" Sam hitched his chin at Wordy.

Wordy smiled and looked down at the pictures. "Sort of." He turned the first picture over and showed Sam sleeping peacefully with the girls on and around him.

"Aww." Jules, Lew and Spike sighed.

Sam gave them a lopsided grin and took the picture from Wordy. He smiled bigger as he looked at the sweet scene.

"And this one." Wordy held up the one of Sam and the three girls in a pile of smiles, legs and arms. Sam was looking at the camera with a hilarious look on his face and his hair was sticking up all over the place.

"That's a good look for you." Jules laughed.

Sam laughed as he took the picture from Wordy. "The fearsome foursome." He looked at Jules with amusement then ran both hands through his hair rapidly and in all directions making it stand up everywhere which made her and everyone laugh. "But now I can't wear the helmet. It'll mess up my 'do." He complained.

"It may improve it." Spike laughed as they started walking towards the locker rooms. Sam stopped and turned back to the desk.

Spike and Lew stopped and watched Sam get tape from Winnie and then catch up with them. They walked into the locker room and Sam went straight for his locker, unlocked and opened it and taped the two pictures to his locker door. He smiled as he pulled his shirt over his head and changed into his workout gear. He walked into the workout room with his hair still sticking up everywhere. He didn't care, it was one of the great moments of his life and he was going to cherish it.

##############

AN: So that concludes my first one shot that actually turned into a three shot. LOL. Hope you enjoyed it and keep the fic requests coming! I love it! Thanks again for reading and reviewing! It makes my day!

##############


End file.
